Eleanor McClelland

Eleanor McClelland, age 87, retired Emeritus Professor and former Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies & Community Affairs at the University of Iowa College of Nursing, died Wednesday, October 6, 2021, at Oaknoll Retirement Residence.  She was a member of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club and following retirement from the College of Nursing, was secretary for over 12+ years and was a Paul Harris Fellow.

Services celebrating Eleanor’s life will be held 3pm, Thursday, November 11, 2021 at  Parkview Evangelical Free Church - 15 Foster Road, Iowa City, Iowa.   There will be a time of visitation one hour prior to the services with light refreshments for her family and friends to follow the services.  Burial will be in the Stults family plot in the Monmouth Cemetery, in Monmouth, Illinois.  For more information or to leave a remembrance, please visit the funeral home website @  www.gayandciha.com.

Eleanor was born June 8, 1934, in Oklahoma City, OK, the only child of Emily Emmerette (Stults) McClelland and Harry Edgar McClelland.  Eleanor’s father died of coronary artery disease in 1941.  Visiting her father in the hospital and caring for him at home led Eleanor to choose her lifelong career as a nurse, ultimately as a staff nurse, supervisor & educator.  Following graduation from Monmouth High School (1952), she graduated from the Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Springfield, Illinois, (1955).  Subsequently, she worked as a staff nurse at Monmouth Hospital, Monmouth, Illinois and ultimately as a staff nurse & educator at Passavant Memorial Hospital & the James Ward Thorne School of Nursing (now Northwestern Memorial), Chicago, then as a Community Health Nurse and Supervisor at Infant Welfare Society (Chicago).  Eleanor received her Bachelor’s degree from Monmouth College in 1959, her Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan in 1970 and PhD in 1979 from the University of Iowa where she was an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant and Associate Dean, also at the University of Iowa College of Nursing, Iowa City, retiring in 2002.  Her teaching and research were focused on continuity of care & discharge planning, culminating with being awarded a World Health Organization (WHO) travel Fellowship to the United Kingdom with colleague Kathy Kelly and subsequently the publication of a textbook Continuity of Care: Advancing the Concept of Discharge Planning joined by colleague Kathleen (Kitty) Buckwalter in 1985.  She also served as a consumer member on the Radiologic Health Panel of the FDA.

In Oklahoma City she attended the First Christian Church, and then attended the First Christian Church in Monmouth, IL, where she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior and was baptized at age 12.  She sang in the church choir, taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School.  She and her mother had moved to her mother’s hometown of Monmouth, IL, following the death of her father where she attended Central Grade and Junior High and High School and also, two years at a one-room rural school (Cedar Hill), where her mother taught.  She was active in Girl Schools and 4-H.  She graduated from Monmouth High School (1952) where she was co-editor of the school paper and yearbook and wrote a weekly column in the Galesburg newspaper.  Her interest in Community Health & Cultural differences led her to the University of Michigan School of Public Health.  While living in Chicago she attended Moody Church and Bible Institute, DePaul, Loyola and Norther Illinois University.  She was active in Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) and Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF).  She led the College and Career Ministry group which began when Parkview Church was located in Coralville.  She helped coordinate, with Wally Foster the 75th Anniversary history publication of the Coralville Evangelical Free Church, now Parkview Evangelical Free Church.  In Iowa City she was involved in numerous professional and community organizations and research, including the Oaknoll Board and Foundation, the Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Program (CLP).  After moving to Oaknoll in 2011 she continued to be active in Parkview Free Church; and as an Oaknoll resident she served on the Newcomers & Vespers Committees and sang in the Oak Notes choir.

Eleanor enjoyed lifelong friendships and at the end of life expressed gratitude for assistance and continued friendship from relatives, friends, and for the fine care she received from the Oaknoll Retirement Community.  At Oaknoll she had many dog visitors (and in the Health Center was often referred to as the “Dog Lady”).  She treasured her many human and animal friends, often commenting on “All Creatures Great & Small, the Lord God made them all”, which helped fill the gap felt by the loss of her own little Maltese dog, Princess Heather, whom she had for nearly 20 years.  She was preceded in death by her parents, cousins, Mary Lois McCarnes and Erma Jeanne Smallwood & Princess Heather and the family’s dog, Bob, a wire-haired Fox Terrier (in Oklahoma City).

Memorials may be made to First Christian Church, Monmouth, IL; Moody Memorial Church, Chicago, IL; Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL; Parkview Evangelical Church, Iowa City, IA; Oaknoll Retirement Residence, in Iowa City.

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